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A ONE OF A KIND BAND

WELCOME TO THE WEBSITE OF APHRODESIA

Established in 2003, in a garage with an insulated glass garage door opener in Wichita owned by one of our members, we quickly recorded our first album. The songs in the album were all about Ghana and Zimbabwe music, courtesy of the influence of one of our favorite singers.

Our band has 11 members which consists of an Afro beat orchestra directly from San Francisco, New York City. Our Afro beat orchestra is composed of singers, bases, guitars, horns, percussion and power drums. The Aphrodesia band always delivers a stunning and high energy set every time we perform.

We have been filling theaters around the county of California with our rowdy blend of African rhythms, slamming percussion, exotic melodies and monstrous horns. Once, we socially charged in the tradition of African greats like Fela Kuti which is as intoxicating as a drop of honey on your lover’s trembling backside. Our music and stage shows are irresistible. Emerging from the bountiful San Francisco Bay Area, Aphrodesia’s highly original brand of Super Afro Beat and uncompromising political stance made us resist easy classification.

GOT QUESTIONS?

In 2004, our band exploded into the

National consciousness with a tour

— a swing-state voter registration tour that took our band all the way to New York City and back using our vegetable oil-powered bus which landed us on the cover of USA Today. We continued to spread showstopping live act performances with the line up of our amazing members at the High Sierra Music Festival which also won us high praise.

While the our band was busy extending our reach into Southern California and up to the Pacific Northwest with several phenomenal tours, our band’s debut CD was picked as one of the best records of 2003 by the East Bay Express. Aphrodesia band’s brand-new second CD, was already generating a buzz that time that broadened our appeal even further. The CD was reviewed in May on National Public Radio called Weekend America.

Aphrodesia Band’s music carries a powerful sense of social justice and the best part is that our commitment to social change extends to off-stage as well. We are doing a small action but we believe that even if it’s a small thing, it can make a huge effect just like music. Aphrodesia supports Tsunami relief efforts, Anti-Iraq War and AIDS Prevention. We are devoted to our advocacies and believe that alternative energy is necessary to reduce America’s dangerous dependence on foreign oil. Our band proudly travels to different areas using only vegetable-oil powered bus- meaning it’s one of the few groups of any stripe as well to protect our planet’s environment.

We hope that we can continue to support our advocacies with your help. Every time you buy our songs or listen to our music, you are contributing to our advocacies. We are eager to do more and bring you better music in the future. Our upcoming shows will be poster here in our website so please check it regularly to see more updates on our shows.

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Afrobeat is a music genre which originated in Ghana and Nigeria. It was developed in the 70’s era with the combination of West African music style such as juju music, American funk, jazz and a lot more with a focus on chant vocals and percussion.

A respected person who create Afrobeat is Fela Kuti known for being the father of Afrobeat music. He produced almost 50 albums of politically conscious music that enraged the Nigerian government. That’s the way Afro beat was introduced around the world.

A lot of indie musicians perform the Afro beat music. They dare to step out of the mainstream to introduce only the freshest music to their listeners. They have so much confidence in the music that they aren’t afraid to challenge the expectations of club crowds. The musicians are doing a lot of effort to give us more rare groovy tunes from the 60’s and 70’s Cuban music era. Chances are, you probably haven’t heard of any of these musicians before, but you’ll surely recognize the funk that’s in every song. It’s crazy how powerful music is, despite the hindrances, you can hear how Cuban music was being influenced by some other rock bands. As a result, we get some of the most electrifyingly funky Cuban music we’ve ever heard. In some radio stations, music places, bars etc., you’ll hear some of Afro beat’s music. We get and experience the explosive trumpets, an organ, percussion and a smooth African-Cuban feel on the drums with a touch of vocal chanting.

As of now, more and more music makers use the Afro beat genre. I hope that this will continue and the time will come for the Afro beat to be on top of the music industry.